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Who would you purchase a custom Shadow from


JoseyWalesX

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I am in the market for a CZ SP01 Shadow to use in production. My question is, If price were no issue who would you use to purchase and tune a CZ Shadow? The only custom ones I know of are from the CZ Custom Shop(Angus), Matt Mink, and Akai Guns but there may be others that I am unaware of. My main requests are a trigger that is smooth and light as possible and will still ignite all primers. Also, I'd like the gun to run a wide range of ammo reliably.

thanks in advance for the advice!

Edited by JoseyWalesX
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Give Shay @ Akai a call, he's really turning out some great Shadows. The trigger is smooth and crisp with a short reset, didn't need to only be run with Federal primers, and it didn't choke on any ammo that I used. Sweet, sweet gun.

Edited by bobmysterious
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I like my cz from czcustom but I'm not very impressed in the effort they put into the "custom" aspect. The trigger still leaves a lot to be desired. I'm having Akai build my open Gun and I know he had a couple finished cz's for sale last week if they aren't already gone. If I were to do it again that is probably what I would do. Could also buy the stock shadow and have eerw do the custom work. He is pretty awesome with the triggers from what I hear.

Chris

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Matt Mink builds the best Custom Shadow I've put my hands own. I agree with Ctay, the CZ Custom trigger is very poor for a "custom". The other nice thing is Matt will put on the smaller safeties. Most folks I've talked to hate the oversized shadow safety and prefer the CZ75 style.

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I've got one of those Akai Shadows headed my way. I also have one from Matt Mink and one from CZ Custom. I'm looking forward to seeing how Shay's work compares.

I'm currently shooting the CZ Custom one the most. I like where the trigger breaks a little better than Minked one.

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I currently shoot a CZ custom shadow. I owned a Matt Mink CZ85. I would use none of the above and go with Stuart (eerw on here). He put out the best trigger by far. A local guy had a trigger done by him and it was quite a bit better than mine.

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I like my cz from czcustom but I'm not very impressed in the effort they put into the "custom" aspect. The trigger still leaves a lot to be desired. I'm having Akai build my open Gun and I know he had a couple finished cz's for sale last week if they aren't already gone. If I were to do it again that is probably what I would do. Could also buy the stock shadow and have eerw do the custom work. He is pretty awesome with the triggers from what I hear.

Chris

I've worked over a CZ75 Stainless myself and the trigger is nearly as good as my CZ Custom Shadow. I recently messed around with some Cajun springs and saw some improvement. Last night I decided to tear the whole thing (CZ Custom) apart and pay more attention to the action surfaces. I was really disappointed. I thought they would have been polished much better, but they were not. I'm currently going through it and have a feeling that it will be better. With that said, I think the CZ Custom is just fine, but it definately could be improved upon based on what I have seen.

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Yeah it's from mink. I got mine from CZ Custom and if I had it to do over I'd go through Matt. You'll get a better price from CZ Custom up front, but you'll lose those savings when you have to have the trigger worked over. As stated CZ Custom does a bare minimum on the trigger. I worked over my trigger myself and I think it turned out well. I just don't think their trigger holds a candle to Matt's. The downside is it does take Matt a while to turn out a pistol. You could always go with the czcustom and get Matt or Stewart to work over the trigger later.

Edited by Lee G
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I own and shoot a Custom Shadow from Angus' shop. It has fired all primers since day one even Winchester 100%. I have briefly shot several Shadows built by other folks. Each Shadow I have fired felt a little different even if built by the same builder. Not better. Not worse. Just different.

This may be due to round count: anywhere between brand new and 80,000 rounds. Resets were slightly different. First pull double action trigger weights did not feel exactly the same on any of them. Single Action pull varied also between Shadows. Some lighter. Some heavier. All of them were so close in the way they shot I could shoot any of them equally well with very little time.

Never knowing about what brand primer that I might have to settle for I chose Angus because I knew that his shop had the standard procedure of building Shadows so that Winchester White Box would be 100%. Federal primers are not easy to buy where I live. I would talk to the other builders to see if they also routinely set up Shadows this way. You cannot go wrong with any of the builders listed here.

I would really like to try a Shadow built by EERW, a frequent contributor here after reading some of his posts and the posts of others about his Shadows.

I have had great success with several different brands of 147 grain bullets in my Shadow when the 125 grain bullet is supposed to be the go to bullet weight.

That being said, I have never fired a factory round through my Shadow. With the distance my 130 PF reloads are kicking out brass I do not want to take a chance battering the slide.

Bobby

Edited by atomicbrh
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One more thing. Unlike most folks, I actually like the big safety because my hands are not that large and I can ride the safety with my thumb just like a 1911.

Bobby

Edited by atomicbrh
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When a guy goes out of his way to help for no reason other than he is a good guy....... I would think he will always be there for his product you pay him for.....

EERW... He is a member - that posts here and contributes a lot of information to all of us. cheers.gif

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When a guy goes out of his way to help for no reason other than he is a good guy....... I would think he will always be there for his product you pay him for.....

EERW... He is a member - that posts here and contributes a lot of information to all of us. cheers.gif

Stuart would get my vote as well. He hasn't hesitated one bit when I bug him. One of these days I'll send him my gun to tune!

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I wasn't impressed with the trigger on my CZ Custom SP01 Shadow. It was a touch gritty and the DA was heavy. It was nice having the LPA adjustable sight cut already done. The CZC gun didn't come with an extended firing pin or reduced power firing pin spring. Also, I was brushed off when I called to get a tracking number after the pistol shipped.

Stuart Wong (eerw here on the forums) is who I'd choose if I were starting over.

My build sheet would look like this:

  • Shadow SP01
  • Barrel with throat reamed for longer loaded ammo
  • Polished feed ramp
  • Extended firing pin
  • Reduced power firing pin spring
  • 11 lbs recoil spring (depends a bit on ammo, could be 10 lbs or 12 lbs)
  • Thin CZ safeties
  • Adjustable plain rear sights
  • Serrated plain front sight
  • DA at a super silky smooth <5lbs and a crisp SA
  • Extended magazine release internally relieved (prevent mags from occasionally snagging on exit)
  • Slide release profiled for long or heavy bullets (I want an extra one of these for spare parts kit)
  • Ten 17 round Mecgar AFC magazines
  • VZ Tac Diamond grips
  • Grip tape on front and backstrap

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Also, I was brushed off when I called to get a tracking number after the pistol shipped.

I've bought a number of guns from Angus & crew at CZC, and have to say that I've never had an experience like that. I was actually shorted one mag on an order, called them up, and had the replacement in hand the next day.

I don't really find fault in my CZC Shadow either.

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I have never been brushed off by anybody at the CZ Custom Shop either. I phoned them a few months ago and the fellow I was talking to miked a particular front sight for me while we were on the phone.

Bobby

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The CZ Custom Shop has been very helpful to me. My Shadow originally had some issues with light primer strikes and the trigger. Parts were sent out free of charge, and they turned around my pistol very quickly when it had an issue.

I do think that they're pretty slammed right now. I don't think that CZ is shipping nearly enough units to fill demand, and CZC is feeling the pinch at present. I'm seeing more and more CZ's at matches, and a lot of the competition-focused products are out of stock and delivery times seem to be stretching out. This is a good thing long term for the brand, but short term CZC is feeling the heat, I'm guessing.

I like the guys enough that with my next order I'm considering throwing in one of their logo'd shooting shirts. Not that they'd want a D class shooter representing them...

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